NewsGator's RSS clients are now free! — We've got a lot of big news today at NewsGator. — First, we've got new releases of our most popular applications: FeedDemon 2.6, NetNewsWire 3.1, Inbox 3.0 (beta), and NewsGator Go! for Windows Mobile 2.0. Each of these is a pretty major release on its own …

FREE Demon? Yes, FeedDemon is Now Free! — That's right, FeedDemon is now free. As in, you don't have to pay for it anymore. Just download it and use it free of charge. — And we're also making NetNewsWire, NewsGator Inbox and NewsGator Go free. In other words, all of NewsGator's consumer RSS readers are free.

NetNewsWire 3.1 is free! — By free I mean both that we've released it from its cage and that it costs no money. Zero dollars. — Upgrades are free. It's free for new users. It's freeware. — You can download it right away. Here are the change notes.

Analysis: Plaxo and Friendfeed, pushing the “feed” — Facebook news feed has been a hit with users because it automatically displays the latest photos, newest friends, and other updates from your Facebook friends. — The problem, though, is that most people use any number of other sites as well …

Google Maps Making Inroads Against Leader, Mapquest — I took a look at traffic to Maps websites after hearing repeatedly over the holidays that people didn't need directions as they would use Mapquest, Google Maps or GPS. With the rise of GPS, I wondered if traffic to Maps websites …

OLPC developing dual-boot Windows, Linux OS for laptops — The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and Microsoft Corp. are working together to develop a dual-boot system to put both Linux and Windows on laptops aimed at kids in developing countries, the head of OLPC said in an interview Tuesday.

French Press Falls For Major Facebook Prank — This is probably the biggest hoax in the history of Facebook. It happened in France and is one of the most discussed stories in the French blogosphere right now. It all started a few weeks ago with a simple third-party Facebook application …

Best Buy wants Macs in more of its stores — Apple's store-within-a-store partnership with Best Buy is going to expand this year, according to Best Buy executives. — So says UBS analyst Ben Reitzes, who met with Best Buy during the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas.

Microsoft dealmaker Bruce Jaffe going startup — While Microsoft has yet to come up with a search engine that wows consumers, it has successfully wooed Wall Street with its push into online advertising. Alas for Microsoft, it's losing a key dealmaker. Bruce Jaffe, a top corporate-development executive …

The next generation of Google Sky — Posted by Ryan Scranton, Google Sky Team, and Andy Connolly, Visiting Faculty, University of Washington — The new year is here and it's time to unveil a new set of features and content for Sky in Google Earth. This update is particularly exciting …

The Vanishing Numeric Keypad — My brand new Apple MacBook doesn't have the embedded numeric keypad the Macbook used to have; there are no small numbers on the U, I, O, and other letter keys, and no NumLock key on the top row that normally activates those keys.

Yahoo Tech Ticker: More Details And A Screenshot — Yahoo's new technology business video show, TechTicker, is set to go live soon (officially, in the next few weeks, but I'm hearing that some early stuff may come out as soon as next week). — The show will be hosted by Henry Blodget …